Orlando Magic at Denver Nuggets Betting Preview

Opening Line: Magic +5 / Nuggets -5 O/U 210.5

Time: 9:00 PM EST Tuesday January 13, 2010

Tonight in Mile High City the Denver Nuggets host the Orlando Magic. The Nuggets are coming off a win and the Magic have won 2 in a row, but each division leader is not playing the best basketball as of late, as each is only 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Magic lead the Atlanta Hawks by only 1.5 games in the Southeast Division and the Nuggets only lead the Portland Trailblazers by 1.5 games in the Northwest Division. The Nuggets are finally getting healthy and can extend their lead in the division, as they have a stretch of home games coming up. The Magic recently snapped a 4 game road losing streak in their last game.

This season the Nuggets are 16-3 at home and 17-21 ATS and the Magic are 12-8 on the road and 18-17-2 ATS.

The Nuggets won their last game beating the Milwaukee Bucks 105-94 on Monday night and the Magic had no problem beating the Sacramento Kings last night 109-88.

This game is a match up of offense vs. defense, as the Nuggets rank 3rd in the league in scoring (106.8 ppg) and the Magic rank 6th in the league in points allowed (95.8 ppg).

The Nuggets recently got Carmelo Anthony (29.8 ppg) back from injury and tonight the league's leading scorer has his work cut out for him against a legit Magic defense.

While the Nuggets can score their defense is what has been hurting them, as they have allowed 103.9 ppg in their last 10 games and turnovers are also killing them averaging 16.6 of them in that span.

Denver has to play some D tonight, especially on Dwight Howard (17.2 ppg 13.2 rpg), who has been in thorn in the Nuggets' side averaging 19.2 ppg and 16.8 rpg against them while posting 5 straight double-doubles. C Nene (14.1 ppg 8.3 rpg) and PF Kenyon Martin (11.5 ppg 8.8 rpg) have to play solid defense on Howard and not allow him to score easy buckets and dominate the boards.

Martin has been on fire lately averaging 15.9 ppg with 12.0 rpg in his last 9 games.

Orlando PG's Jameer Nelson and Jayson Williams will have to slow down Denver PG Chauncey Billups (17.7 ppg), as if they can slow the tempo down and make this a half-court game the Magic have the advantage.

Vince Carter is expected to miss his 3rd straight game tonight and J.J. Reddick (9.7 ppg) will take his place in the starting lineup. The Nuggets' backcourt can't let him have open looks from deep, as Reddick is connecting on almost 43% of his 3-point attempts this season.

Denver is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games, 4-12-1 ATS in their last 17 games, and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 against teams in the Southeast Division. Orlando is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 road games, 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games against teams with a winning home record, and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 against teams in the Western Conference.

Our Selection : With the likely absence of V. Carter for the Magic and the return of A. Carmello. In the Nuggets last game was a 105-94 victory over the Timberwolves there is no reason to think that Denver can't cover the opening line of 5 points. The Nuggets won by 9 in their last meeting and we can't see any reason to not expect a victory margin in the same range . Take Denver -5


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